High Times at Stark Tower
by Kitrona
Summary: A night off for the Avengers, in which they unwind a bit and learn more about each other. AU, includes Loki and two original characters, no Black Widow. 6/24/12 Added some more to the story.


Living in Stark Tower was nice, Loki reflected, but not the same as living in Asgard. Still, there were differences that weighed in Midgar's favor. The break room, for instance. As he looked around, he definitely approved of the really big screen television, the plushly-stuffed leather couches, and the full bar and refrigerator; even the air hockey table was an amusing diversion. But the best part wasn't the surroundings, as entertaining as they were. No, the best part was walking in the room and knowing, after months of hard work and facing mutual perils, that he'd earned his place among the Avengers. Better yet, he'd earned a measure of their trust.  
He stepped aside and smiled to himself as he noted the other members. Tony and Bruce were playing a racing game on the TV, of course with full rigging for each. Tony was trash-talking Bruce, who was his typically quiet, competent self... and beating Tony by nearly a full car length. Mira and Lexine were cheering Bruce on and laughing, drinks in hand, somehow mirroring each other while being completely different. As he watched, Bruce suddenly flushed and lost a bit of ground to Tony; aha, one of the girls was whispering something in his ear and dodging the swat Tony aimed at her backside. Clint lounged on the couch, watching and occasionally putting in a sardonic aside while he discussed something with Steve and Thor; Clint and Steve were drinking water, but Thor, who had become quite the connesuer of beer, was working on his latest six-pack of micro-brew.  
Loki considered where to settle himself for a moment, finally deciding on the overstuffed chair a little to the side, far enough apart that it didn't look like he was trying and failing to be included but close enough to participate if someone should choose to solicit his opinion. Almost immediately, there was a round of acknowledgement of his presence, each according to their natures. Steve, who probably trusted him the least, nodded to him, while Clint nodded as well, but with a little more warmth. Thor slapped him on the back, Mira gave him a hug, which made him blush, and Lexine kissed him, which made him blush more. Bruce waved shyly and said hi, since the race was over for the moment, and Tony had to get his jibes in. "Hey, Loki, buddy, lookin' less like something the cat dragged in."  
Loki grimaced and gracefully flopped into the chair. "Thanks ever so much. Perhaps if you pay attention to your game, you might win one of these times," he snarked back. Thor handed him a beer and Loki accepted it with a sigh, but when he took a drink, he was pleasantly surprised. "This one's decent, Thor. Thank you."  
Thor grinned and launched into a surprisingly complicated explanation of where the beer was brewed, how it was made, and the ingredients that made the difference, which Loki tuned out in favor of Clint and Steve's conversation, which seemed to be about women. "No, see, you can't do it like that," Clint was saying, "women like a guy who can converse about a variety of subjects. You can't be patronizing or condescending, it's just... rude."  
"But... wait, so... women are equals now, right?" Steve asked, leading up to something. "So they should know everything men know, so how could that be condescending?"  
Thor shook his head, as if he had a clue how to talk to women on Midgar. "You have to respect that they're experts in their chosen field," he explained, "but outside of that, you have to know how to be the expert without making her feel stupid." This garnered a narrow-eyed look from Mira, who nudged Lexine.  
"So... they don't know everything men know?" Steve hazarded, looking completely bewildered. Tony and Bruce had put away the rigging for the game and wandered back over, ribbing each other, but at that comment Tony groaned and slapped his forehead. Steve looked helplessly at Bruce, whose expression was similar to a deer caught in headlights.  
"Don't look at me, I've barely talked to a woman for years," he protested, raising his hands in a warding gesture. Lexine eyed him, prompting a quick revision. "Except for work, I mean." That was enough to satisfy the blue-haired woman, at least temporarily. She and Mira were watching the conversation avidly.  
Clint sighed and opened his mouth to reply, but Tony beat him to it. "Of course not. Of course, to be fair, hardly anyone knows what I know, with a few exceptions. I am a genius, after all. But your average woman on the street, oh, she knows some things. Hair, nails, what shoes to wear after Labor Day. Very few know how to tune the engine of a '67 Shelby GT500 to make it both purr and race well."  
Lexine gave Tony a dirty look before commenting, "You're not the only one who's rebuilt one in their garage, Tony..."  
He stopped, did a double-take, then continued. "Ok, so some of them do. My point is, there are some things that are still considered 'guy things' that the majority of women have no interest in. I find it bores them to talk about particle physics or what kinds of weapons systems to put on your next suit upgrade."  
"No, Tony, that's just you," Mira interjected, rolling her eyes. "Not everyone finds ' All Tony, All The Time' to be the most fascinating of conversations. I'm sorry, the most fascinating of monologues," she corrected herself.  
"Yeah, well, some people have no taste," he shot back, with a 'whatcha gonna do?' shrug.  
Steve looked utterly lost, so Clint tried to get the conversation back on track. "Ok, here's what you do. You find out if you have anything in common with her. Common interests, hobbies, experiences..."  
"Um, he doesn't actually have any of those yet," Mira interjected. "Interests: patriotism and weapons systems. Hobbies: none. Experiences: living in the '40s. Yeah, not a lot of common ground there." She glanced at Lexine, then eyed Steve, grinning in a very disturbing way. "Of course, we could always start Project: Improve Steve."  
Thor looked horrified. "No, that's really not a good idea..." he started, but was interrupted by Tony.  
"Sounds great. Let me know when it's done and I'll set him up with some girls I know," the playboy billionaire philanthropist agreed, slapping the table as if it was a done deal. "In the meantime, I need someone else to beat. Who's up for it?"  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Bruce said. "You're really ok with them treating Steve like a project?"  
"Yeah, sure. So who wants to race?"  
Clint shook his head and glanced at Loki, who'd been silent through the whole conversation. The Asgardian lounged in his chair, shaking with silent laughter. In response to Clint's inquiring expression, he just shook his head. "You'll never get them to stop now that they've got someone backing them," he snickered. The women in question were discussing something between themselves, oblivious to the rest of the room.  
Meanwhile, Thor had volunteered to race Tony, but they were having some trouble fitting him into the rig. "No, right there... pull... wait, push your shoulder... not there!" When Mira glanced up, she started laughing so hard there were tears in her eyes. Thor was halfway into the rig before he fell over, with the rig following on top of him. An interesting variety of swear words in both English and Asgardian flowed from the mass of technology and pissed-off god on the floor, which sent the whole room into additional gales of laughter or amazed staring.  
"Did you really just insult the rig's parentage?" Lexine panted, leaning on Mira.  
"I'm not sure a rig has parents," Mira continued the thought, wiping her eyes.  
"Ok, so that's not going to work," Tony conceded, "so who has some other suggestions?"  
There was a round of everyone looking at everyone else in silence before Clint spoke up. "Think we could all relax right now," he said, a glint in his eyes. The others looked over at him.  
"Full bar, pick your poison," Tony said, with a raised eyebrow, but a slight smirk on his face.  
"I wasn't talking about alcohol," Clint replied, a grin creeping onto his face, looking around. He noticed Lexine's interest now and winked at her.  
"What are you talking about?" Bruce asked hesitantly, his voice still soft.  
"I'm talking puff puff pass," Clint answered with a nod as he sat back.  
"Oh, hell yeah," Lexine said, sitting forward on her seat and smoothing her skirt down, eyes glowing with excitement.  
"What?" Steve asked. "I'm am totally lost," he added, looking bewildered.  
Tony began to grin like the Cheshire cat and headed over to a wall. "I'm down with that. I got some good stuff right now that's in season," he said, opening a panel. A selection of four or five different plants slid out, and Lexine hopped up and headed over.  
"What is that?" Steve asked, unsure of where this was all going.  
"Smoke, weed, pot, Maryjane, take your pick, Steve," Mira said with a smirk as she stood up and rearranged the fit of her jeans.  
"What is this, smoke, weed, pot, Maryjane?" Thor asked, wandering over as well. They all watched Tony and Lexine, who looked at the plants before picking a few buds off three different plants and quietly discussing best way to consume them. They looked at the others before bending their heads together, and on cue, Tony pulled a bong, a pipe and a roller and papers from the cavity in the wall.  
"It's loco weed, Thor. It helps you relax." Clint got up as well and joined Lexine and Tony, clapping Thor on the back. He picked up a bud and took a sniff of it. "Is this Columbian?" he asked Tony.  
"No, I call that Oriental Gold, nice blend of greens from Asia. Got a nice bold taste," Tony said, as he was breaking up some of the buds.  
Lexine was busy rolling some into a nice fat joint, while Tony was setting up the pipe. "I don't get it... what do we do with it?" Steve asked.  
"We smoke it." Loki replied, finally setting down his beer as he got up. He headed over to Lexine as the blue-haired woman lit up the joint. She took a deep toke before passing it to Loki, who took his own deep toke. They exhaled together.  
"Hey hey, I'm still tryin' to set this up. Share," Tony demanded. Loki smirked crookedly at that and leaned over enough to hold the joint up to Tony's mouth for him. Tony took a drag, and winked as Loki took it back, taking a drag before handing it to Clint. Mira was quick behind Lexine and took the joint as Clint passed it their way.  
"Oh damn, this is some good shit..." Lexine said, with a big grin.  
"I'm certainly feeling it," Loki said with a pleasent smile, leaning back against the wall beside the girls as Mira passed him the joint. By this time, Tony had gotten the pipe filled and was sharing it with Clint.  
"Anyone else?" Tony asked, sounding strangled as he held the smoke in. Thor looked unsure, but got up and went over.  
"What is it like?" Thor asked them.  
"You know how it is when you've been drinking a long time?" Loki asked. Thor nodded. "This is ten times better, without the hang over," he continued with a grin like the cat who ate the canary. Thor looked skeptical, but took the joint from Loki and took a drag. "Hold it in, Thor." Loki told him. Thor did as told, holding it for a few seconds before he started choking on the smoke. Loki, Lexine and Mira all told him to exhale now and he coughed it out.  
At this point, Tony and Clint were leaning on each other, passing the pipe back and forth while snickering. "Come on Bruce. Get your ass over here and relax a little," Tony called with a goofy grin.  
"Guys, I really don't think this is the greatest idea..." Bruce said hesitantly.  
"It's a great idea, get over here." Tony replied, waving him over and dismissing Bruce's misgivings. "If you don't get over here, I'll come over there and blow it in your face, buddy. And I'll have Clint hold ya down," Tony added, while Clint snickered.  
Bruce shook his head. "No, you won't," he stated confidently. "You don't want the Other Guy crashing this party."  
The girls snickered and Lexine explained, "The Other Guy won't have a chance. No, really," she insisted as Bruce shook his head again. "It's not like drinking, there's not different moods to it, it's just... mellow. Promise."  
"That'll really help when Tony's gotta rebuild the tower," Bruce retorted sourly, but as they'd been bickering, Tony had taken the decision out of Bruce's hands and staggered unsteadily toward his friend. Just as Bruce was about to expound on his 'rocks fall, everyone dies' theme, Tony blew a big puff of smoke in his face. By the time Bruce was over his coughing fit, the air was turning hazy and he couldn't remember what he'd been arguing about.  
Loki, Mira and Lexine were whispering among themselves and watching Steve, who was staring at them all in shock and confusion. The girls nodded to Loki, who grinned wickedly and headed in Steve's direction.  
Mean while, Tony wrapped his arm around Bruce's shoulders, blowing another puff of smoke, before handing the pipe to Bruce. Dr. Banner looked a little unsure, but Tony helped him take a drag from it. Bruce handed it back, coughing, but was starting to feel pleasently happy, a slow grin starting to form on his face.  
Steve had noticed Loki coming toward him and blinked, unsure what to do. Before he could say anything, Loki had perched himself on Steve's knees and wrapped an arm around Steve's neck. He took a long drag of the joint before blowing it directly in Steve's face, just as the man had drawn a breath to yelp. As Steve scrambled off the couch he was sitting on, Loki nimbly got to his feet and blew Steve a kiss, along with another wicked grin. The room had gone silent at this display, but before long, Clint fell back against the wall in a silent fit of giggles. Bruce and Tony had to lean on each other as they laughed, and the girls were hugging each other, unable to catch their breath.  
Steve was staring at Loki with wide eyes, speechless even as he was coughing on the smoke. Tony had passed the pipe to Bruce, who quickly figured out how to smoke from it, and headed in Loki's direction, taking the joint from him. Loki held up the ash tray from the side table to catch the ashes and Tony took a drag before holding it out to Steve.  
"Might as well join us, Cap," Tony said, smirking.  
Steve was still wide-eyed, but now with indignation. "You can't! I can't! Drugs are bad!" he protested loudly as he stood up. "They're against the law!" he managed before the huge clouds of smoke that everyone was directing at him enveloped him and caused another coughing fit.  
Thor had made a huge blunt with Lexine's help, as if it was crafts day at a very tolerant mental hospital, and had been happily engaged in figuring out how to smoke it and experiencing the effects. Somehow he had migrated over to the air hockey table, and at Steve's outburst, he erupted into a gigglefit that left him bracing himself on the table and wheezing.  
"Breathe, big guy, breathe." Tony said with a snicker from where he was hanging on Bruce, who was still puffing happily away at the pipe, until it burned out. At his confused pout, Tony took the pipe back from Bruce and headed back over to the table with the plants to refill the pipe, using his Zippo to light it up.  
"Hey, let me see that," Lexine chirped cheerfully, snatching Tony's Zippo to look at it. A graphic representation of the element that was in the mini arc reactor in his chest was inscribed on the gold lighter. "Nice," she said with approval as she handed it back before pulling her own out and showing Tony. Hers was a custom as well, Alchemy Gothic's Grim Sage inscribed in the silver.  
"Hey, I like that. Maybe we should swap awhile." Tony said with a charming smile, sliding closer.  
"Sorry, Tony luv, I never loan out my zippo." Lexine said with a wink, using said lighter to light Loki's next joint. The trickster looked glazed over and all smirks. "You look happy," Lexine remarked to him.  
Loki merely nodded contentedly as there was a loud thud that shook the room behind them, followed by more intensive giggles. Thor had managed to fall off the hockey table when Clint finally snagged Steve's shoulders and shoved his own joint in Steve's face, making the Captain take a drag.  
"I like this!" Thor roared from his undignified position halfway under the air hockey table, where he'd rolled after landing. "More!"  
The girls rolled their eyes and Mira shouted back, "You still have one in your hand!"  
Thor looked at his blunt with a dawning sadness as he tried to take a drag and realized it had gone out. "Fire?" he whined pathetically, and Mira took pity on him, leaning down to relight the joint. Thor took a huge drag and let the smoke seep out around his grin.  
Eventually, someone suggested karaoke. Nobody remembered who, but it was probably Tony. Surprisingly, Loki was first up with "Pokerface", complete with dance. He even used the stripper pole left over from some drunken debauchery of Tony's, and did it well. Steve didn't quite understand the concept and was under the impression that everyone had to dance while they sang.  
"No, no, nonono," Mira giggled, tipping her head backward over the arm of the chair she was sprawled in sideways to look at him. "You're upside down. But no, you don't have to dance, and the words are on that screen over there," she pointed in the general direction of a smaller screen on which the lyrics scrolled. Tony stood up as she spoke and staggered to the "stage" in front of the television and cued up AC/DC's "Shoot to Thrill", to much applause and laughter.  
He ended the song with, "Ok, who else needs a drink after that?" and everyone's hand shot up except Steve. Lexine was on the couch beside him, talking him through how exactly to use the pipe. By now, he had enough of a contact high to not be too bothered by the concept of being high. He took a small drag off the pipe and held it for a moment, then turned to Lexine.  
"Like this?" He looked confused by her sudden gigglefit until he realized that the smoke was coming out of his mouth with each word. Bruce swung by with a drink for each of them, though he was abstaining, as drinking made him... volatile. "Oh, thanks, Bruce!" Steve said enthusiastically, then looked around anxiously. "That wasn't too loud, was it?" he whispered loudly to Lexine, who giggled and shook her head.  
"Next up!" Tony announced, then pointed at Mira. "Come on, it's your turn, let's go!" She grabbed Lexine and the two women started the unmistakable intro to "Bad Romance". "Rah rah ah ah ah, rah ma, rah mah mah, Gaga, ooh la la, want your bad romance..."  
Some time later, they'd gotten to the stage of things where everyone just kind of rambled for a while in turn, sometimes in response to a question, other times as a long-winded comment on someone else's monologue. They'd gotten onto the subject of childhood, and then nicknames. "Of course, Golden Boy," Loki half-sneered. "You weren't the one being called Trouble."  
"They meant it affectionately," Thor protested. Loki snorted in response.  
"You want nicknames?" Tony interjected. "Mine was terrible." He seemed to realize that he'd said that out loud unintentionally, and sat back, trying to look innocent and failing spectacularly.  
"Yeah?" Mira leaned forward with interest. "What was it?"  
"Nope. Shouldn't have said anything. I don't even know your whole name. It can't be Mira," he replied, attempting to deflect the attention to his unflattering nickname.  
"Miranda. My dad called me Mira after the star. And you don't get away that easily. What was your nickname?"  
"There's a star named Mira?" Tony was determined to avoid the other discussion.  
Hawkeye snorted. "Not an astronomer, I guess," he chuckled, then nodded to Mira. "Your parents were fans of Shakespear?"  
She shrugged. "I guess. Mom was an English teacher, so I suppose that's where it came from."  
Thor frowned. "I thought you spoke English. Why would you need a teacher for that?"  
Bruce smiled and shook his head. "It's not what you think... it's how to write English well, to be understood and not sound like... well, like a dumbass. Not how to speak it."  
Thor looked confused, but Loki grinned. "It's like learning how to write treaties and proclamations, Thor. Formal speech instead of informal."  
Steve nodded. "Exactly! I bet you were good at that," he added, in a rare overt show of approval for Loki.  
Loki tried to look modest. "Well, I wasn't bad at it. In fact, I helped Thor with quite a few of his preliminary proclamations when he was... what?" This last was in response to the expression on Thor's face.  
"You said you wouldn't tell," the god whined.  
His brother, for Loki still thought of Thor that way, shook his head. "I said I wouldn't tell... anyone in court," he corrected uncomfortably. The subject of Odin was still best avoided, and this was coming perilously close to that.  
Thor hrrmphed and crossed his arms. "Whatever."  
When Thor wasn't looking, Loki stuck his tongue out at him. Lexine jumped in before things could devolve further. "Boys, boys... come on. Let's not revisit the bad parts of the past. I'm sure you both had other nicknames, right? What were they?"  
The attempt to change the mood was successful, at least for Thor, who grinned. "He was LokiBit," Thor revealed with a snicker. "I was Thorling."  
This time it was Loki who rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Thank you ever so much, Thor. I could have lived without anyone knowing that."  
"I could have told them any of the more embarrassing ones," Thor pointed out. "Like the coincidental timing of the nickname 'Silvertongue'."  
By this point, everyone was watching the two bickering brothers, fascinated, so everyone saw the blush creep up Loki's neck, which made it obvious what Thor was referring to. "Whatever you say, Mister Moustache," Loki retorted.  
"So I was an early bloomer. Did you have a point?"  
"I suppose I should have picked a different nickname. Like 'O ye great god of the Hammerhead Yak', for instance?"  
Thor frowned. "Why did you have to pick that one? It was a misunderstanding, I've told you a thousand times!"  
Loki snickered. "Hey, if you can't call the appropriate animal to save your followers because you've got a hangover and mumble, that's not my fault."  
"Ooh, I sense a story," Tony piped up, leaning forward. "Do tell."  
Thor shook his head, so Loki gleefully filled in the details. "One day, one of his followers was doing something with a dragon... hunting it, I think?" He glanced at Thor but got no response, so he continued, "So this follower starts yelling for him, which... I guess the closest equivalent for a human is having someone IM you repeatedly in a very large, annoying font, but it's much more annoying than that."  
"How would you know?" Thor grumbled. "You've hardly got any followers."  
Loki made a mock-offended face. "Ooh, no need to get catty, dear brother. The followers I have are of superior quality. No reason to be jealous... oh wait, yes there is. Oops, sorry about that." He rolled his eyes before he continued. "Anyway, that big idiot was sleeping, since he'd gone out drinking with Volstagg, who actually can drink him under the table on occasion. This was one of those. So he's sleeping, snoring and drooling and who knows what else," he paused for a dramatic shudder, "when this follower just absolutely abuses his name asking for help. He sits straight up and blinks a few times, then yells for his hammer, ever so eloquently. 'Hammer!' he yells. Then the hangover must have hit, because he started groaning about his head, and then 'yak', right into the basin. 'Hammer', 'head', 'yak'. And there it was."  
Thor was glaring at him, though with no real malice. "And it all worked out in the end," he concluded grumpily.  
"Well, yeeeees..." Loki drawled. "I suppose you could say that. I mean, the follower lived, so I guess that counts as a win for you." He smirked again and added, "Even if he did call you 'god of hammerhead yaks' after that."  
Thor rolled his eyes and retorted, "At least I didn't tie myself to the back end of a goat." Then he noticed that everyone else was quiet. He glanced around the room and picked Steve for the next bit of 'sharing'. "So what's your most embarrassing moment?"  
"Mine?" Steve blinked a few moments, then shrugged. "I guess when I was too skinny for the army."  
"Oh, come on," Lexine teased. "That's it? No depantsing in high school? Nothing involving a girl? Your parents didn't embarrass you?"  
Steve shook his head. "Not really. I mean, I got teased in high school, but I was pretty smart, so I guess they figured it was better to get me to help them with their homework than piss me off."  
"You're such a Boy Scout," Mira interjected, amused. "Unlike some people here." She eyed Tony pointedly. Probably better not to ask Bruce about his embarrassing moments.  
"What, me? Oh, we're back to that again," Tony groaned, leaning back. "Why can't you just drop it?"  
"Because," Lexine leaned forward to add, "it's much more funny if everyone knows."  
"Wait, you know?" Tony looked slightly shocked and definitely dismayed.  
"Yep," Mira answered offhandedly, sitting casually on the arm of the chair, legs crossed, foot bouncing. "We know."  
"Both of you. Great. I didn't even get to sleep with you before you know my darkest secrets."  
The two women looked at each other and snickered. "Oh, I'm sure it's not your darkest secret," Lexine replied. "Just one of your more embarrassing ones. In fact, I'm kind of surprised Fury hasn't used it as leverage yet."  
Tony's expression of dismay indicated that he hadn't even thought of that angle. "Oh, no. That's all I need. Fine," he gave in with bad grace, "if you all swear to secrecy, I'll tell you my nickname."  
Around the room, everyone indicated agreement in various ways, none of them energetic. Still, it was agreement. "There, we agreed," Mira said. "Out with it."  
"Ugh. FINE. Scrumpy."  
A moment of silence before anyone reacted. "Wait, what?" Bruce asked, confused.  
"Scrumpy. That was my nickname."  
"Scrumpy? Seriously? Like the cider?" Hawkeye inquired.  
Tony sighed. "Yes, yes, like the cider. Look, my parents and I took a trip when I was about five, to England. Apparently the verb 'scrump' means to steal fruit, as they found out there, and they applied it to me. Plus I drank a bottle of scrumpy when I was about eight."  
"So... you stole fruit as a small child?" Mira asked.  
Tony shook his head. "It wasn't stealing. It's just that they couldn't keep any fruit in the house. I went through a five-pound bag of apples in a day, regularly."  
Lexine snickered. "I'm sure you were." Tony looked blank, so she added, "Regular, I mean." Still no comprehension. "Not constipated."  
Finally Tony got it. So did Loki, and Thor, and Clint, and Steve, and Bruce. Mira wasn't paying attention anymore; instead, she was humming to herself. Loki gave her a curious look. "What's that you're humming?"  
"Huh? Oh, nothing. Just a song I made up." This particular half of the female assassin team looked vaguely embarrassed.  
"A song you made up? Intriguing. Please, do share," Loki invited with a grin.  
Mira blushed. "Um. No thank you."  
Loki raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Why not? Is it... racy?"  
Lexine giggled. Sometimes seeing her partner put on the spot was so amusing...  
"Noooo..." Mira said uncomfortably. "Not racy. Just... kind of silly. I didn't make it up for singing, really, just... something I do, I guess."  
"You made a song that's not for singing?" Thor inquired. "Why would you do something like that?"  
Mira shifted uncomfortably. "It's just to amuse myself. You guys probably wouldn't think it was interesting."  
Steve grinned. "How about you let us decide that?"  
Now Mira looked like she wanted to drop through the floor. "I'd really rather not. It's silly."  
"Silly can be good," Clint opined from the comfort of the couch.  
One last shot. Mira appealed to Tony. "It's a silly song about your nickname. If I have to sing it, they'll probably sing it at you constantly."  
He shrugged. "You don't get to be a multi-billionaire genius... whatever all that other stuff is... without learning how to ignore things," Tony explained. "I think I can deal with it."  
She looked at Lexine desperately. "Don't make me. Please."  
Lexine shrugged, smiling. "Out of my hands now."  
Bruce saw Mira's expression change and shook his head. "Guys, if she really doesn't want to sing it, don't make her. Ok? I think she's really uncomfortable with it."  
Mira relaxed amid the good-natured grumbles. "Maybe later," she offered. "Just not right now." She shot Bruce a grateful look, but he just shrugged, a little sheepishly.  
Tony laughed. "Doesn't make a difference to me. But I admit I'm kind of curious about it myself."  
Lexine wrinkled her nose at Bruce playfully. "What was that about?"  
He raised an eyebrow. "She said she didn't want to. There was no reason to pressure her."  
Unexpectedly, Clint, Loki, and Thor nodded. "I didn't mean to add to that," Clint said. "Sorry if I did."  
"I was just curious," Thor added.  
Loki looked pensive. "Being pressured to do something you don't want to do is intolerable," he murmured with feeling.  
Tony looked around at the group. "Ok, guys, way too serious. Time to smoke another bowl."


End file.
